Stalker (1992)
Sammy Davis Jr. is Lonzo Wilkinson in Flagg’s 13.
Gather round, friends, and I shall regale thee with a legendary tale of action figure hunting from the halcyon days of the 1990’s. In those days there existed the Half Price Store, in whose hallowed halls the adventuring collectors of the day would find bounteous amounts of the previous years’ action figure releases. Their names echo through toy history like forgotten warriors who have passed on into Valhalla: Swamp Thing, Toxic Crusaders, James Bond Jr., Captain Planet. Among these also were the renowned heroes of the day, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and GI Joe.
I really miss that treasure trove of a store. When I think about it now, I wonder if this sort of thing just doesn’t happen any more due to the decrease in the amount of action figure toys. I realize that GI Joe today isn’t produced in the quantities it was late in the RAH line, but even current heavy hitter toy lines don’t get entire bins full of product, whether it be at regular retail or discount stores.
Stalker was a pick up from that wondrous time, and I’m glad I bought him along with other favorite Sonic Fighters like the Viper, Falcon and Rock ‘N Roll. The colors on this series may be a bit out there, but the gimmick and the bold looks sold me at the time. Nostalgia has just made them all the more interesting, as I have many fond memories of the era. It’s kind of funny to think that I have two distinct sets of toy buying memories; those of childhood and those of adulthood.
Unlike the regular Sonic Fighter figures, the backpack isn’t removable. Well, not easily removable anyway. All one had to do was open up the pack, and remove the screws that held it to the figure. This of course left a funky looking flat area on the figure’s back, but it’s not as annyoing as a ginormous backpack.
It was a good thing to have a more all purpose Stalker again. While the tundra ranger figure is great in its own right, that version is still tied to a specific environment. This mold has some very intricate and interesting detail, like the wrist gun and the rounds on the left boot. With its prominence in the line at the time (the design was also the basis for a Hall of Fame Stalker) the figure became my default Stalker for a few years, at least until the highly underrated 1994 version was released.
This figure only saw one reuse–the 2003 Tiger Force version.
The closest I can think of to a Half Price Store are places like Marshalls, Ross, and T.J. Maxx. Unfortunately, the ones here in Orange County are always trashed like the Dreadnoks went through ’em with gusto.
This version of Stalker is pretty sleek. Think of Lonzo as being played by Billy Dee Williams. He’s even got that patented Lando smile going for him. Smooth.
Not a bad version of Stalker. He was spared from the excesses of the neon brush. The yellow looks good against that black. Despite the presence of neon colors, many Sonic Fighters were spared the over the top absurd color schemes seen in the main line in later years. It looks like he took his pants from Avalanche’s wardrobe though. And is that a shuriken where his two bandoliers cross, or perhaps the knob off a sink? Heh. He’s so well-equipped, he can even fix a sink in the field.
I remeber in my area in the early 90’s [about twenty years ago], TMNT was starting to drop severly in popularity and it looked like the JOES were coming back.I remeber this Stalker was really popular. Then power rangers came out and all the Joes went into the fifty cent bins. I scored a huge haul of battle corps, Ninja commandos and Street fighter stuff one weekend and still had change left. Getting back on track, this version of Stalker was my first version of the guy
I think that’s the bandolier’s buckle.
I like this version of Stalker. His pants should´ve had a better color scheme but considering the overall look of the figure he´s a keeper. When I moved to Sweden in the early nineties there was a supermarket who had a lot of Joes and I used to stand there for hours staring at them though they were a bit more expensive in Sweden than back home.
It´s funny that GI Joe has been such a huge part of my life even after moving. GI Joe is definitely one of those things I miss from home.
I cannot salute Rob enough for writing such fun and interesting pieces about this wonderful toy-line that obviously stuck with us all into adulthood and brings back fond memories.
I always liked this one. Sadly some swindler got my brother to trade it, I don’t remember what he got for it but I know it wasn’t as cool
He has the right leg broken and in a cast, poor guy! Now I understand his face and mouth expression!
😉
Not a bad figure, but not a great one. He seemed too geared up, the pistol on the right forearm (ripped off Scarlett) and that left ankle just seem awkward. Borrowed elements from other characters, Flint’s black beret (yes, i know Rangers wore black berets then) and shirt look and Roadblock’s love of big guns. It’s too bad they never recolored the figure in green.
Without the nostalgia, I just have so much trouble seeing Stalker in this head. When customizers use it on a new character, I’m always fine with it. The body is sculpted pretty well, and you can get two to swap lower right legs if you don’t like him lugging 50 pounds of ammo on his calf (or if you want him to carry 100lbs on both legs). The primary gun is a kindof wild M1919, which sans scope & stock could be used for a Kwinn custom. The backpack (though yellow) is well done and looks like a battlefield station, even if it’s always 4:30 where this guy ends up.
Peice of trivia. His large rifle was retooled to make the star wars POTF II stormtroopers heavy blaster
He wears that camo pattern so he can take cover in a field of Holsteins.
Didn’t care for the cream-colored pants, but the rest of the figure was great. Maybe if the pants were a hunter green or another dark shade of green…